


On a Quest for Love

by yehwellwhatever



Category: J Balvin - Fandom, Latin American Celebrities RPF, Music RPF, Reggaeton RPF
Genre: CEO J Balvin, Concerned Family, First Kiss, Looking for love, M/M, Swearing, Wedding Planning, love search, married at first sight au, rich characters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-01
Updated: 2020-11-01
Packaged: 2021-03-08 20:33:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,048
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27332728
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yehwellwhatever/pseuds/yehwellwhatever
Summary: Jose doesn’t have time to date, but is tired of going everywhere alone. The logical thing to do is to sign up for Married at First Sight.
Relationships: J Balvin/Secret Partner
Comments: 1
Kudos: 5





	On a Quest for Love

**Author's Note:**

> Huge thanks to RJ and Obbel for the beta read ♡

Being a CEO of a Fortune 500 tech company doesn’t leave a lot of room for dating, and even less for a serious relationship. And Jose is tired: of being alone, of the random hookups, of the questions from family — from fucking _reporters_ — about if there’s a _special someone_ waiting for him at home.

So, one of the rare nights when he’s not at the office hopped on caffeine in liquid and pill form, he’s in bed scrolling through Netflix when a show catches his eye. At first he doesn’t think it’s a real thing. It must be fiction. But there’s a clear label stating that it is, in fact, a reality show. Huh. Maybe that’s something to consider.

Before he can give it a second thought, his phone starts ringing. It’s the signal specifically picked for his assistant, by his assistant. “Bane of My Existence.” Well ain’t that the truth. ”What?” he sighs into the phone, pulling on clothes with his free hand as he moves towards the door.

♡ ♡ ♡

The next time he opens up Netflix, the show is still there, big, bright and bold, covering his screen. And he thinks _fuck it_ as he opens the browser on his phone and searches for the show. Before he knows what he’s doing, he gets an email notification with a confirmation.

_Thank you for your application to ‘Married at First Sight’. We will be in touch if you are selected for the next round._

He has a second of doubt. This is a fucking terrible idea, then… ”Fuck it,” he says to himself, closes his laptop and actually goes to sleep. He sleeps better than he has in weeks.

♡ ♡ ♡

Life goes on as normal, with too much caffeine and fast food and not nearly enough time at the gym. Until one rainy day in March when The Bane of his Existence himself, also known as Jose’s assistant, enters Jose’s office without knocking, a flustered look on his face.

”What?” Jose sighs. Manuel is a good assistant, when it comes to bringing him coffee and getting Jose where he needs to be when he needs to be there, but the guy is too shy for his own good.

Manuel runs a hand over his hair, messing it up. ”There’s… there’s someone here to see you.”

”Do they have an appointment? There’s nothing in my calendar. Did you forget to put it in there?” It would be the first time; Manuel really is a good assistant.

”No, they… they said you contacted them a few weeks ago, and that you agreed that they could show up unannounced…?” The last part comes out more like a question than an answer.

Jose sighs. When would he ever agree to having anyone drop by unannounced? He barely has enough time for all his scheduled meetings as it is. ”Alright then, bring them in.”

Less than a minute later there’s a knock on the window next to his open door. When he looks up there’s a tiny, objectively beautiful woman, watching him with a frown. ”Why would you of all people need to sign up for _Married at First Sight_?” she asks, not bothering to introduce herself.

Oh, so that’s what this was. ”I guess I made it through to the next round, then.” He sits back in his chair and nods at the woman. ”Close the door, would you? No need to advertise this to the entire company.”

What follows are too many questions that take way too much time and a lot of meetings scheduled that he really doesn’t have time for. Especially if he ends up not making it on the show. The show. Fuck, what the hell has he gotten himself into signing up to a reality show to marry someone he won’t even have seen a photo of before they walk down the altar?

♡ ♡ ♡

As it is, it is worth it. Maybe. He still thinks that it might be the stupidest thing he’s ever done, and he’s done a whole bunch of stupid shit in his life.

”This is the stupidest thing you have ever done,” his sister tells him when he calls to tell her. He usually hates that his family is on an entirely different continent, but now he’s never been more relieved. Especially when she adds, ”You know mom is gonna kill you with her bare hands, yeah?”

”Don’t tell her!” He’s overcome with panic, his heart pounding behind his ribs. ”Please, Caro, I beg of you. Don’t tell her.” As an afterthought. ”Don’t tell _anyone_.”

”Are you planning on just showing up married one day or something?”

That was exactly what he’d planned, but he’s not about to tell her that. ”Not exactly?”

”What’s that supposed to mean?” Carolina doesn’t sound pleased. At all.

Before he has to explain himself further there’s a knock on his door. ”Sorry, gotta go. Important meeting. Running a multimillion dollar company and all that, you know.”

Carolina sighs. ”This conversation isn’t over, Jose.”

♡ ♡ ♡

Turns out time passes even quicker when he’s got even less time to sleep. There are a lot of meetings. The most interesting is the one with a guy who calls himself Maluma, though Jose suspects that’s not his real name. He is some kind of sex expert… which, considering the way he looks, is an interesting conversation. If Jose hadn’t already decided during this process that he really is going through with finding someone to marry, and Maluma wasn’t so utterly professional, something might have happened. Another day, another life, maybe.

In fact, all the experts in this experiment of a reality show are unfairly attractive. If they manage to match him up with someone half as attractive, Jose would be one happy man. ”Looks aren’t everything,” he reminds himself, ”but they don’t hurt.”

♡ ♡ ♡

He chickens out of calling his parents. Instead he sends invitations to everyone he wants to invite through the production team. A week or so later, his private phone starts ringing nonstop, and he doesn’t have to look at the screen to know that it's his mother.

Jose knows he should just answer the phone. Rip the band-aid off. Get it over with. But he can’t bring himself to hear the disappointment in his mother's voice. So he puts it on silent and lets it ring until it runs out of battery. It is only then that he books his parents a flight to New York City the day before the ceremony.

If they try to convince him he doesn’t need to go through with this, that he can find a partner on his own, he can just say it would be a breach of contract. Which is true. He can say it would be so expensive not even he could afford to buy himself out of it. Which is mostly true. He thinks they might have added another zero, just to make him feel special.

♡ ♡ ♡

Carolina is in his apartment when he comes home from a business dinner one evening less than a week before the big day. He doesn’t know how she got in, but he suspects she charmed the doorman, a creepy old man with an unnatural skin color, who seems to have a thing for too-young women.

”Brother of mine, you’re home!” Carolina gets off the sofa, the liquid in the glass she’s holding sploshes over the rim and down on the carpet. He winces. Good thing she prefers gin over red wine.

Jose lets himself be hugged too tightly, and frankly a little threateningly, by his inebriated sister. ”You’re here,” he says. They haven’t spoken in weeks, and he was starting to wonder if she would even show up for the ceremony. Things hadn’t exactly ended on a high note last they spoke.

”I had some free time. Thought I would come spend some time with my favorite brother.”

”I’m your only brother,” he points out.

”Semantics. Come sit, have a drink.” She looks him up and now, scrutinizing him, as she sits back in the corner of the sofa, feet up, and takes another sip of the gin and tonic.

”I don’t drink,” he reminds her as he sits down next to her. He hasn’t had a drink in years. Barely sleeping while drinking all night was a bad combination, which he realized after a few too many nights of going too far. So he’d quit, and his company had flourished.

Carolina shrugs. ”Whatever makes you happy. Speaking of happiness… tell me more about these upcoming nuptials of yours.”

Jose runs a hand through his hair, takes a deep breath, and starts talking. And talking. And talking, until he hears a deep breath and looks over to see that his sister has fallen asleep. He puts a knitted blanket over her before going to bed himself.

Carolina is gone when he wakes up in the morning, no trace that she’d ever been there in the first place.

♡ ♡ ♡

The days leading up to the ceremony pass in a blur. There’s so much going on. He really just goes where he’s told to go, eats when he’s told to eat, and crashes into bed for an hour or two when he has the chance. He doesn’t even have the time to get nervous.

Until he looks up from where he’s sitting and doing his best to write vows to his future life partner — which is probably the hardest thing he has ever done, considering he doesn’t know the man; even the name is a secret so that they can’t look each other up beforehand — mere hours before the wedding, and sees his parents walking into the room. The jitters fill his entire body, and he can’t sit still, legs bouncing with no real rhythm.

They’re here. His parents are actually here, in New York City, and they don’t look like they want to kill him, or disown him, so Jose takes a deep breath and lets himself be cautiously optimistic. His legs are still a little wobbly as he gets up from behind the table.

His dad is the first one to approach. They just look at each other for what feels like an eternity before his dad puts a firm hand on his shoulder and squeezes. ”Hello, son.”

♡ ♡ ♡

Not enough hours later, Jose is more nervous than he’s ever been as he walks down the aisle with his parents. ”Is it too late to back out?” he wonders, to which his mom just sighs. ”I know, I know… can’t back out now. It’s gonna be fine, right? I mean they wouldn’t pick someone if we were a terrible match, right? Right.”

His parents leave him at the altar and go to take their seats. Carolina shoots him a thumbs up and makes a stupid face. He cracks a smile, takes a deep breath and tries not to vomit on his shoes as the doors open again and the person he’s going to marry in a matter of minutes walk down the aisle.

Jose has to blink, because at first he thinks he’s looking at himself. They’re dressed pretty much identically, have the same slicked-back brown hairdo and trimmed beard. The only thing that’s different is that the other man is a couple of inches taller than Jose.

As it turns out, Jose could have looked a little closer to home in his quest to find a life partner. Because coming to a halt in front of him is Liam fucking Payne, the man who’s been making his life miserable for the last two and a half years with his up and coming rival company.

He sees the moment Liam realizes exactly who he’s going to be married to for the next six months. It’s a look of pure dread, and Jose bursts out laughing. Maybe this isn’t going to be so bad after all.

♡ ♡ ♡

When he kisses Liam — his _husband_ , Jose reminds himself — after their vows, he tastes smoke. Disgusting. Jose breaks the kiss. He can feel the way his face scrunches up from the foul taste before he looks Liam in the eyes, hands still cupping his cheeks, and says, ”You’re not a bad kisser. In fact you're better than I expected. But if we’re gonna keep doing that, you gotta lay off the smoking.”


End file.
